Ashoka, GAIN, and BoPInc posed this question at the event “Catalyzing a Nutrient Economy” in Amsterdam, Netherlands April 19^th 2013.

A diverse group of stakeholders (listed below) including representatives from government, NGOs, and innovators on the ground, including Ashoka Fellows, discussed how the Nutrients for All framework unlocks opportunities for vitality in the landscapes, food, and people.

This framework enables us to talk about the importance of the right nutrients, bio-available nutrients, flowing from the environment to land to food and to people, and the powerful impact that measuring nutrients can have for strengthening nutrient value chains.

This event helped us to establish some of the basic tools for building this framework. Professor Buddy Ratner presented a low-cost tool to measure nutrient content, saying “we can set up a model for what a fully nutritious food or person looks like” to determine what nutrients are missing.

This type of measurement is key for practitioners like Ashoka Fellow Basil Kransdorff, who is looking for ways to measure how his bio-available food, ePap, impacts malnourished people: “The issue is what gets biologically absorbed at a cellular level to make the body work better and more efficiently.”

Following this discussion, we will continue to discuss these key questions:

• What does our nutrition indicator include?
• How can we use nutrition data to generate demand for nutrition—information, nutritious foods, and systems that support nutrition— for consumers and policy makers?
• How can we make complex nutrition data and information accessible to consumers and policy makers?
• How can we bring nutrition information to those at the Bottom of the Pyramid, who are often left out of marketing and communication campaigns?

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Co-organizer Marti van Liere of GAIN presents on why focusing on nutrition in the first 1000 Days is so important.

The first is a dependency on market prices. Ninety-seven percent of women reported buying fruit from shops or vendors, meaning they have to accept the prices that these vendors set, which are usually determined by an external market. These prices are much more expensive than grains and vegetables. At a market in Koppal, Karnataka, rice from a public distribution shop cost about Rs 3/kg while grapes cost Rs 60/kg. Vegetables, while still more expensive than rice at Rs 30/kg for a bell pepper, are even cheaper than fruits. Apples cost a much higher Rs 180/kg.

The second is that fruits are highly perishable. Many women, especially in rural areas, only go to markets once a week or less. Compared to grains, fruits are perishable. When buying food on a limited budget, women are more likely to choose food that will last the entire week or longer.

The third reason has to do with the perception that women have of fruit. Fruit is seen as a wasteful expense because one person typically eats it, while several people usually share grains and vegetables. Because fruit only feeds one person at a time, it is seen as a less efficient food than grains or other staples that feed many at once.

The final reason has to do with low levels of nutritional awareness. Many people are not aware of the health benefits that accompany the regular consumption of fruit. One possible reason that they do not see the value in purchasing fruit is because they do not realize the nutritional value that fruit has.

The Indian government has recognized this problem, and has recently submitted a plan to give fruit to children on a weekly basis through anganwadi centers. This is a small but important step to incorporate fruit into the diet from a young age.

Ashoka’s Nutrients for All Campaign is highlighting the opportunity in nutrients and nutrient rich foods. In a Nutrients for All  world, nutrients would flow from natural ecosystems to farms to people,  highlighting the potential to select crops and foods based on their nutrient value. This would empower farmers to grow healthier, more nutritious foods. Ideas like this define the nutrient economy: linking farming to food to diet to health. Improving choice in farming can affect health outcomes.

The study also extolls the benefits of Farm to School programs that connect local small and mid-sized farms to school lunch programs. Of the eleven Farm to School programs that were studied, ten produced positive dietary behavior changes. Examples of these changes included increased use of the salad bar and increased participation in the school nutrition program.

Read the full article here.

The full report is available here.

This integrated package of services includes:

• Safe drinking water
• Nutrition
• Vaccinations and medicines
• Health awareness and education

And is delivered through a system that includes:

• Evidence-based health protocols
• Front-line health workers
• Information and communication technology

Such service delivery systems solutions that focus not just on radical affordability and quality improvements in medical care and health systems, but more broadly on the objective of creating wellness and successful people, will enable millions of mothers and children around the world to happily contribute to their communities.

“…the country’s high rates of stunting also have much to do with the Malagasy obsession with rice. Although many children consume enough calories, they have trouble growing because their diet consists almost exclusively of rice, to which cassava or a salty soup may be added and, if the family has enough money, some fatty meat. “We found that the highest occurrence of stunting is not among the very poor, as they eat the vegetables that they grow instead of selling them, and these are rich in nutrients. The worst cases are those who can afford white rice,” said UNICEF nutrition expert Amal Bennaim.

Read the full story here.